>> <<But I thought the famed Irish fisherman's sweaters were made from natural >> colored wool, with lanolin left in to make them somewhat water repellent and >> the knit patterns were unique to the family. So if a body washed up they >> knew who it was from the sweater on it. gruesome but practical, I thought. >> Is there any truth in this or is it a touristy fable?>> Pretty much a touristy fable, made up by a strange man named Heinz Kiewe who ran a needlework shop in Oxford. <<
Based on what one member posted, this is not a tourist fable. There were patterns unique to certain families. When a body was swallowed by the sea, and deposited on shore, often the only means of identifying the body was by the sweater, and its patterns, that was on the body. >>The lanolin is *not* left in, as it attracts dirt, makes the wool much >>heavier (and slower to dry) and sticky and/or stiff - just generally >>unpleasant. << First of all, we're not talking about a fine wool breed. At the time, the UK was not known for its fine wool breeds. We're talking about dual coated breeds, or the long wool breeds. None of them have the amount of lanolin that a merino would have. It doesn't take much to scour the fleeces of non-fine wool breeds. Secondly, we're talking about a small amount of lanolin, _small_, About as much lanolin, in proportion to the fleece, as we would use for a hair rinse. As for the dirt, it sounds like people think that these fisherfolk went about with lanolin covered sweaters that just called out to every dust bunny and dirt particle to make a home on the sweaters they wore, and that they knew nothing about soap and water. >>..it can absord an incredible amount of moisture (I think it's 30 percent of >>its weight) before even feeling wet. << Wool can absorb about 30% of its weight in water, and still keep the wearer warm. Believe me, you know when a wool sweater is wet. >>In the Netherlands, there is much more evidence for local identification (to towns and regions, not families) in patterns used in knitting sweaters. There's an excellent books that covers a lot of it: van der Klift-Tellegen, Henriette. Knitting from the Netherlands. Asheville: Lark Books, 1985. << There! Now see that? If some people in one geographical area hit on the idea of unique local sweater patterns, why couldn't this occur in other areas? If the Scots can come up with tartan patterns unique to families, why is it so difficult to believe that idea could be applied to sweater patterns that are unique to a family? wrnk d2 Deborah To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
